Fire Starters
by Electric Neptune
Summary: Chapter 4 is up! While doing mandatory clean up, Vert finds a photograph of the BF5 from the early days. There's just one problem with it: He and Agura aren't in the photo. VertxAgura OCxOC
1. The Photo

**A/N: Hey you guys! I am working on Spectral Distortions, but this idea popped into my head and refused to let go. It's going to be a lot shorter than SD and I hope you all enjoy it.**

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><p>Wadded up shirts and pants littered the floor of Vert Wheeler's room. Automotive books, posters and other things were all shoved into a pile while articles of trash were in another disorganized heap. Vert grunted as he reached under his bed again, hoping that he had cleared out the two years' worth of dirty laundry and empty soda cans. Who knew that the underside of the bed could store so much stuff?<p>

He wasn't exactly sure when Sage suddenly decided that cleaning their rooms had become mandatory, but he knew it had to be with her learning about the term "Spring Cleaning" or the strange lump of mold that was growing behind Stanford's stereo a few weeks ago. Everybody thought for sure that thing was alive.

"I thought it tried to bite A.J." Vert said aloud. Of course he remembered that they were a little sleep deprived at the time from a bout of heavy Storm Shock activity, but to this day A.J., along with Spinner swore it had a nasty attitude.

Vert smirked from the memory while he felt around the cool floor.

A knock from his door brought him back. "Yeah?"

"It's Zoom. Can I come in?" The warrior's muffled voice came from beyond the door.

"Sure, it's open. Just watch your step."

The door slid back and Zoom found himself nearly stumbling on a mountain of CDs. "Whoa! I didn't know our leader was such as pack rat."

Vert threw a shirt at him. "Shut it. And please don't tell me you're done."

Zoom grinned. "When you hang out in a temple for most of your life, you learn not to keep many earthly possessions."

Vert stood up and walked over to the closet. He opened the door, revealing a wall of boxes that were marked with titles of various rewards. "Aw man…"

"You are going to be stuck in here all day."

"Have you heard how everyone else is doing?" Vert asked, unloading the first few boxes.

"Well, Tezz is pretty much finished, but of course everything it neat and orderly in his room. Stanford is complaining, your girlfriend keeps finding lost hairbands and brushes, A.J. is trying to make some extreme sport out of cleaning and the Cortez brothers… Well, let's just say they're finding out some things about each other."

"Do I dare ask?"

The scout laughed. "It's not bad, dude. Sherman found out that Spinner was hiding a bunch of files for improvement features on the Buster so he wouldn't get dragged into more training. And then Spinner found that Sherman was hacking into his blog and corrupting files and stuff that were embarrassing of the team. Needless to say, this cleaning hasn't done those two any good."

"It sounds to me like you were doing more than just checking in on them."

"I was just exercising my mad scouting skills." Zoom grinned again.

Vert sighed while he set more boxes of down on the floor. He felt around the top shelf to see if there was anything else. "Hey, can you see if I'm missing something?"

Zoom leapt onto Vert's bed and jumped up and down a few times. "I don't see anything."

"Thanks, now get off before you break a spring."

"Wait, hold on! There looks like a piece of paper right next to your hand. Move a little to the left… No, your other left! There."

Vert's hand slid off the shelf, carrying a rectangular piece of dust-covered paper with it. Blue ink was scribbled in a flowing fashion on its smooth surface. Zoom jumped off the bed and joined Vert, looking at the oddity.

"The team?" Zoom read the inscription aloud.

"Yeah, but… The hand writing is different. It doesn't look like any of us wrote it," Vert said.

He flipped it over. He and Zoom's eyes roved over the picture. It was indeed a picture of the team just after they formed. Stanford, Zoom, Sherman, Spinner were standing on the test track, all smiling, but then…

Vert and Zoom looked at each other, eyes wide.

Where Vert and Agura should have been standing were two strangers.

Vert took a deep breath. "Zoom, gather the team, now."

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><p><strong>AN: Argh, I didn't want to make this chapter THIS short, but that's how it turned out. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Theories, More Theories, and a Jeep

**A/N: I do not own BF5. Just my OCs. Hello everyone! Thankyouthankyouthankyou for all of your wonderful reviews. And thanks to those that said about the problems in the first chapter. I went back and read it and I was like "Whoa, there really isn't any description!" Now I've got something to work on! :) **

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><p>After being passed around for the fifteenth time, the photo finally landed back in Vert's hands. His blue eyes traveled to each of his teammates, all of them with varying degrees of confusion on their faces. The bright lights of the hub's main terminal cast down on the picture leaving not a trace of doubt in Vert's mind; nobody knew who the two strangers were.<p>

Tezz was first to speak. "It is clear that A.J. and I have never seen them before, since this photo dates back to before we joined."

"Vert found Sage. And Agura has always been Second in Command and I have never seen those guys in my life," Spinner said.

"Yet there they are," His younger brother said.

"The girl is cute."

Agura rolled her eyes. "Focus, Stanford."

The Weapons Specialist continued. "And the guy looks annoying, like a total arrogant snob. If anything, I would remember his face."

"You've had experience at this?" Zoom asked sarcastically.

"Of course! You wouldn't believe how many royals are completely wrapped up in themselves and would never think about sacrificing their time to save the planet."

"Does anybody else recall how he wanted to ditch Sage on the first day?" Agura muttered.

A general consensus of nodding heads and groans confirmed her memory.

Vert looked at the picture again as Stanford started to go into a rant. The man was wearing Vert's shock suit, except it was the color of blood. He stood almost as tall as Sherman and was almost as muscular with light brown hair and icy blue eyes. Stanford was right though, the man looked completely arrogant; even more so than Tezz and Stanford combined, if that was humanly possible. He seemed to be made for true royalty, unlike the Brit's empty title. Vert noticed that he was the only one not smiling. In fact, the man seemed to be a little annoyed by the girl next to him.

She smiled shyly at the camera, wearing a shock suit that was a dark forest green. Like Agura, the girl wore her red hair in a bun, with the exception of a few wavy swaths of loose hair around her face. The girl looked to be around Agura's height, if not a little taller. She didn't look as much as a black sheep as the man did in the group, but Vert felt like there was some sort of energy between them. Whether it was good or bad, he couldn't tell.

The sound of hissing hydraulics brought Vert's mind back to the present situation. He saw Stanford's arms were folded across his chest, a visible pout on his face. A.J. was patting his back. Vert saw a triumphant smirk on Tezz, which proved that the Russian had struck the Brit's ego down.

The elevator came up from the floor below, carrying a troubled Sage. Tezz and Stanford's expressions faded at the sight of the Sentient.

Sage floated up to the team. "After scanning the photograph, my results confirmed that it is genuine, not a fake."

A.J. suddenly stepped forward. "Did you find anything in your memory?"

The Blue shook her head. "There are no traces of these humans in any of my data banks, but it is clear that the male was the leader of the team and the female is Second in Command from the color of their suits and the shoulder markings. However, as I said before, there is no record whatsoever that they existed, when they were here or why no one can remember them."

Tezz tapped his chin. "If the Hub has no recording of their existence, then that strikes down the theory of the humans suffered from Dissociative Fugue or any other kind of memory loss."

"I know this sounds way out there, but it almost seems to me as if time… reversed itself." Sheman looked at all of the confused glances he was getting. "I mean, like some sort of event happened and they had to be replaced because they might of triggered it or they were killed."

"But what would be that catastrophic to cause time to go back? And for us not to have a single memory?" Agura asked Sherman.

The Technician shrugged. "I don't know. It would a lot more different if the Battle Force was made up of completely different people. That would support Tezz's Fugue theory, but there's just two."

"Sherman has a point," Tezz said, "But we're missing the fact that no one knows how long they were here. Sage's memory was damaged and incomplete in the beginning, so it's possible that she and the Hub might have been subjected to a time reversal. If they did die, the pain might have been too great for Sage and the team and she could have erased the memories of their time here."

"Is it possible to compare this one to another photo that has Vert and Agura in it from around the time the team first formed? This way we can find out if there is a time lapse or not," Sherman said.

Sage's face lit up. "That is an excellent idea. The chemical makeup of the photographs would tell how old they are. Does anyone have a hard copy of such photo?"

Agura raised her hand. "I do. I'll go get it."

The Sentient nodded. "I will call you when I have the results. In the meantime you are dismissed."

The team dispersed, going their separate directions. Vert and Agura walked side by side into the section of the Hub that contained the team's rooms. Boxes and random clothes were all over the floor of the hallway, displaced from the cleanup.

Agura stopped short of her room and looked at Vert. "Do you really think they're dead?"

"It's hard to tell." Vert wished he had more to say, but there wasn't anything else to go on.

His Second in Command sighed and opened the door to her room. "The picture's over here."

Vert followed her in and grudgingly noticed that she was close to being finished cleaning her room up. A small pile of hair brushes and earth-colored bands laid on the edge of her perfectly made bed. Without a few water bottles and stacks of folded clothes scattered around, the room looked spotless.

Agura walked over to her dresser and picked up a picture frame. She unhinged the back and gingerly pried the photo loose.

It was a photo of the team Vert knew so well. The original team stood there, under the pit's roof on the test track. He was there smiling along with Agura, like he had always remembered.

"It's hard to believe that we really weren't the first on the team," The Huntress said.

Vert touched her shoulders. "We don't know what happened to those two, but I'm sure Sage will find out. No matter who they are, they're still a part of the team."

She slowly nodded. "You're right. It's just… If they died… We've been fighting this war for almost two years and I never thought about if someone _really_ didn't make it back."

Vert drew her into a hug, his head resting on her shoulder. He knew that she wasn't the only one thinking that. Death seemed far more likely than time reversal, by a long shot.

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><p>The Jeep jerked to a stop at the red traffic light. Its engine thrummed roughly along with all of the surrounding cars and the buzz of a nearby Moped. A little rust was present on the murky green body, but the driver didn't mind. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, her emerald green eyes flicking from the light to the ongoing cross-traffic. Her passenger however, wasn't as happy.<p>

"Your driving sucks."

"I'm a perfectly safe driver. This just happens to be a new vehicle that I'm getting used to."

He huffed. "Define new."

"Alright, so it's about 10 years old, but it's newer than the Bronco."

"I'll give you that, but I thought that you would buy a RX-7 or a Jetta or maybe even a Subaru, but not a frickin' Jeep."

The light blinked green. The driver weeded her hand out of her red hair and waited for the cars in front to start moving. Finally the Jeep lurched forward towards the intended destination. The Moped zipped by, it's buzzing engine loud over the turbulent gust of the air conditioning.

"If my new beauty offends you so much, than why did you insist on me driving you to the mall?"

"The R8 draws too much attention."

She rolled her eyes at the windshield. "Ah yes, then all of the girls in the entire mall would gravitate towards you."

"Heh, they would even without the car, but I only have eyes for you Miss Cree." He flashed a big predatory smile at her.

"Really Lance?"

He reached out and stroked her jawline. "I love you."

"And I love you, but you choose odd moments to be intimate, you know that?" Cree flicked the right turn signal on and coasted into the mall entrance.

He snorted, resting his arm on the worn console. "I won't do anything. I don't want your terrible driving to get any worse."

"Gee, thanks."

"Although we should've given each other a few love bites before we came here. Then no girls would come around me and no guys would come around you."

"Wish that plan would have been carried out," She said flatly. Cree was glad that she was wearing sunglasses, or else he would have seen her eyes getting wide. It was bad enough that he could see her blushing. Even though she knew he was joking, it still made her face heat up.

Lance grinned. "Maybe it can still be carried out when you drop me off at my house."

Cree smiled a little. "As long as you behave in the mall."

"You have yourself a deal."

She turned the Jeep into a parking space and shut off the engine. "Well, let's get your suit and get out of here. It looks really crowded today."

They both got out of the car, its engine ticking as they began the long journey up to the mall's entrance. Cree could see the waves of heat rise from the pavement, making the lot look more like a desert of dark sand than the mall's parking lot. Lance sighed at the distance between him and air conditioning and held out his hand to Cree, who gladly accepted it. An approaching engine from behind caused them both to turn around. A bright yellow Kawasaki bike drifted by them.

Lance looked at Cree. "It resembles… the Chopper."

She continued to watch the bike while her hand squeezed Lance's. "I really miss them."

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><p><strong>AN: It seems that I have some explaining to do. If you know all of this stuff you can just skip this message!**

**The R8 is a super car created by Audi. It's quite beautiful. :3**

**A Dissociative Fugue is a type of abnormal memory loss. In most cases, the person suddenly forgets their past life and sometimes who they are and goes off to start a new one.**

**I think that's all for explanation. And once again, thanks for all of your reviews!**


	3. The Truth and a Headlock

A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for your wonderful reviews! And I hope you enjoy the new chapter.

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><p>The Buster's controls were completely jammed. Sherman was rapidly losing his cool as he jabbed at random interface screens on the console, hoping that one didn't have an error message on it. Spinner was reduced to speaking gibberish behind him. Sherman yelled through the commlink, but there was no response from anyone. He looked out the windshield into nothing but darkness. It was like the Buster was suspended in a void. His panic faded enough to start running through a list of scientific theories to explain why the Buster was suddenly in this situation and how to get out of it.<p>

He turned around and looked out the back corners of the windshield, trying to see if there was anything behind him. The striped hood of the Reverb came into sight. Sherman unbuckled his seat belt and got up and pressed his face against the cold glass to get a better view. Stanford was in his vehicle, but he was just sitting there, face pale. His eyes were locked onto something ahead of the Buster. Sherman looked out the other direction and found the Chopper lying on its side, but its operator was missing. More warning alarms flared that brought his attention back to the main console.

Yellow caught his eye. Sherman looked up and saw something that stopped his heart for a second.

Zoom was lying face down in front of the Buster. The "Man Down" Protocol kicked in as Sherman climbed over his babbling brother and opened the hatch of his vehicle. He barely noticed that he could breathe in the outer space-like atmosphere and clamored down the side of the Buster. His feet hit invisible ground as he bound over to Zoom and turned the warrior over. Blood covered the bottom half of his face, all of it streaming from his nose. His eyes were shut as Sherman scanned his face and torso for any other abnormalities. He felt for his pulse at the side of his neck and was relieved to find that it was regular.

Zoom groaned as Sherman placed one arm on his back and the other under the scout's knees and lifted him up.

The scenery had once again changed in front of Sherman. This time the Saber and Tangler were in front of him. Another wave of relief washed over him at the presence of the other two vehicles.

Sherman ran over to the Saber. "Vert, Zoom is injured—"

The cab was empty. In a moment, a deep sense of dread surged through Sherman's veins, wiping out his hope as his head swung from side to side, searching for Vert. The leader was nowhere to be found. And neither was Agura.

"I don't understand…"

"You don't have to."

He whirled around, Zoom groaning from the force. Sherman's hazel eyes grew wide at the owner of the voice.

Rawkus stood there, snarling at him. "Sorry kid, but in order to keep the balance, this has to be done."

Sherman tried to run, knowing that his arms were preoccupied by holding Zoom, but his legs didn't budge. He tried to yell for help, but his voice had also frozen. Like the Buster, his body was sending him an error message.

A tiny neuron sparked somewhere in his brain and a feminine voice that did not match Agura's or anyone else he knew spoke softly as the Equalizer's hand descended over him.

"_I'm sorry."_

And then an unknown force tackled him.

Sherman's arms instantly wrapped around his attacker and pulled him into a crushing headlock. He had enough of this insanity.

"AGGGHHHH! I LOVE YOU SHERMAN!" PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"

"That's a great strategy to get the largest and strongest guy on the team to wake up, A.J."

A pair of arms laced around his neck when another voice spoke close to him. "Sherm, it's okay! Seriously, snap out of it!"

Sherman blinked a few times, recognizing his brother's pleading voice. The image of Rawkus and a bloody Zoom slowly faded away, revealing the reality he thankfully was living in. With the exception of Sage, the entire team was crammed into Spinner's and his shared room. Vert, Agura, Stanford, Tezz and a perfectly fine Zoom were standing well back from his bed. Spinner was the only one that was next to him. _I thought for sure I heard A.J.'s voice._

"Uh, Sherm, buddy? Can you let me go? It's getting a little hard to breathe." A.J. asked from under his arm. He was hanging off the side of the bed looking at him sheepishly.

"S-sorry." Sherman released his grip on the Canadian and gently lifted him onto his bed.

"It's all good, dude. Everybody has bad dreams." A.J. patted him on the back.

Spinner looked down at the A.J.'s sleepwear. "Polar bear boxers? Seriously?"

A.J. glanced down at his underwear and tried to cover them up with his hands. "We're here for Sherman, not my choice of knickers!"

A few muffled laughs floated out from the rest of the group. Vert shook his head and walked up to the foot of the Cortez's bed. "You were screaming and flailing around. We were going to wake you _gently_, but then," he jerked his thumb at A.J., "He ran into the room and tackled you."

Sherman scratched the back of his head. "I'm really sorry you guys. I didn't mean to wake everyone."

"It's totally not your fault, dude, but what the heck were you dreaming about?" Zoom asked.

The Technician summed up the dream, which received a lot of sympathetic looks. Even Tezz grimaced when Sherman described Rawkus's hand approaching him.

"That's pretty scary. No wonder why you were going crazy." Agura rubbed his shoulder gently.

"Perhaps it was a conglomeration of events of your past fused with your deepest fears?" Tezz offered.

Sherman nodded. "That's a good theory. Most dreams are made up of stuff like that."

"Well, at least you're out of that nightmare, little bro," Spinner said.

"What time is it, anyway?" Stanford asked.

Sherman glanced at the clock on the wall. "6:30." He looked back at the team when his watch started to beep. He grabbed it off of his nightstand and tapped the glowing screen. Sage's name appeared as the channel opened.

"I am sorry to disturb you, Sherman, but I could not reach the rest of the team. Are you aware of this situation?" Sage asked with an urgent edge in her voice.

"We're perfectly fine Sage. I had a bad dream and everyone came to our room to wake me up. Sorry about that," Sherman explained.

There was a small sigh on the other end of the line. "I'm glad everyone is all right. I need to speak with you all right away. I have the results from the photographs."

Vert looked at his entire team. They were all casting anxious looks at each other. His heart was beating a little faster as well. This was it.

"Let's go you guys."

Sherman got off his bed, then stopped and turned to A.J. "Wait… Did you say that you loved me?"

"Yeah, but I didn't mean it like _that. _Haven't you ever watched movies where someone is brainwashed or something and then somebody says 'I love you' and the spell is broken?" A.J. looked around at all of the annoyed glares he was getting.

"No more Netflix for you," Vert said.

"Can we at least put a shirt or something before we go? This place is an iceberg." Stanford whined.

Their leader nodded. "Okay, everybody get something warm on."

Agura looked around at all of her shirtless teammates. "As the second in command, I don't see the need for shirts on you guys."

A shade of pink traveled over the faces of her team. Only Sherman's face was colored a deep red.

Stanford, however, was enjoying it. "Do you like the view, love?"

Vert's mind fizzled before he finally thought of a comeback. "And as first in command, I say you're the only who doesn't need a shirt." He glanced at Zoom's drooling mouth. "When I'm the only one around."

"Can we please focus on what's important and not this juvenile chatter?" Tezz's voice rose over Agura's spluttering.

_Apparently everyone being up at 6:30 in the morning and extremely nervous at the same time isn't a good combination. _Vert cleared his throat. "Let's move you guys."

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><p>Few lights were on in the terminal area of the Hub. Most of them were pointing down in the center, where Sage was busy tapping on a few interface screens. The ghostly outlines of the five main vehicles were on the edge of the light surrounding the preoccupied Sentient.<p>

"Sage." Vert called.

She turned around, an anxious look on her features. The BF5, still in their pajamas emerged from the dim lights.

"Battle Force 5, I have the results of the photographs." She studied each and every one of their faces before going on. "The test concludes that the photographs are the exact same age."

A collective gasp filled the silence, with an explosive "What?" from A.J.

"Then that means that time was reversed." Tezz said weakly.

"What about the two other warriors? Are they alive?" Agura asked.

Sage nodded and turned back to the monitors. Two driver license with the two warriors faces appeared on the screen. "The female is Cree Brightenn, and the male is Lance Stoller. They both live in Nevada and in close vicinity to each other. I have also acquired their cellphone and land line phone numbers."

The Battle Force shuffled up to the floating pictures. Sage pushed a few additional keys and both of the old photographs appeared under the licenses. Cree's hair had changed since then, which it was now shoulder length. Lance looked more or less the same.

"I did not try to contact them because I do not know if they remember that they were a part of the team. Their memories could have been removed," Sage said.

Vert sighed as everyone turned to him for the next move. A small part of them didn't want to call and leave them alone, but the overwhelming majority of him wanted to find what had happened and that he wasn't heading to the same fate. "I'll call the numbers in a few hours, when we know they're awake."

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><p>AN: I wanted to end on more of a cliffhanger, but I didn't want this chapter to drag out forever. How will Cree and Lance respond to this? Stay tuned! :)


	4. A Train Wreck & Cree has WHOSE Number?

**A/N: I do not own Hot Wheels Battle Force 5, but I certainly own Cree and Lance. I keep on forgetting to add that disclaimer DX. Chapter 1 is in the process of being rewritten to a much shinier and polished version!**

**This chapter made me realize that I have no skillz in creating an awesome DJ name. I'm sorry if it burns your eyes.**

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><p>"<em>Good morning Nevada! This is WPRK at 8 am in the morning, bringing you the latest and greatest hit songs and breaking news all in one program. I'm your DJ DeMent, and we'll tackle the first song of the morning after the traffic report from our main man on the ground—"<em>

Cree's hand slammed down the "off" button on her radio clock. She blinked slowly and wormed her way out of her cocoon of blankets. She stepped across pinstripe patterns of sunlight that came through her venetian blinds. She trudged into her brightly painted bathroom to take care of her hygiene. She stopped and checked herself in the mirror. A dark spot on the side of her neck caused her to lift her messy hair and inspect it. A small bruise had formed by her ear. She smiled and shook her head. _Lance has a matching one too. S_he remembered when they left the mall and he was telling her over and over how he was on his best behavior. She had nearly forgotten about their deal after that yellow motorcycle went past them.

Cree lowered her head. _That bike…_

She sighed heavily and started her morning routine.

Cree walked out of the back door of her and her parent's house wearing a black t-shirt with two vertical green racing stripes on the front. Her cargo pants scuffed across the rough cement floor of the porch. Being from a family of early birds, Cree woke up bright and early, even on summer vacation from college. Lance and a majority of her friends thought something was wrong with her.

She looked up at all the trees that took up most of the family's property. There was a large clearing where the house was, but otherwise than that, the giant plants grew rampant. She passed the main garage where her parents' cars usually stayed, except they were away on a business trip for a couple of weeks.

A smaller, separate garage where her Jeep stayed was some distance away from the house. Cree withdrew a set of keys from her pocket and unlocked the mechanism on the front of the wooden garage door. She carefully lifted the creaking door up, noticing white paint chips falling down from the weather-worn surface. The rollers squeaked and protested until the door slid all the way up. The Jeep and an absolute mess of tools were on the other side of the garage door.

Cree began to step over some of the said tools when her cell phone began to ring. She fished out the small phone and looked at the screen. An unknown number was displayed. She let it ring for a few times before deciding to take the call.

"Hello?" She answered carefully.

"_Hi, is this Cree?" _An unfamiliar male voice asked.

"Speaking."

"_I'm Vert Wheeler and, well, this might sound a little strange, but have you ever heard of something called the Battle Force 5?"_

Cree's heart skipped a beat. The keys dropped out of her other hand and clattered to the floor. _That's Impossible! H-how did they—_

"_Hello? Are you still there?"_

"Ah, sorry, I was just… You… are the new leader?"

"_Then you really are, I mean, were the original Hunter?"_

Cree flinched at "were." "Yes, I was. How did you find out about me?"

Vert cleared his throat. _"There was a photo way in the back of my closet. It had you and Lance on it, instead of Agura and I."_

"Agura? Is she my… Is she the current hunter?"

"_Yeah, her name is Agura Ibaden. Listen Cree, I know that this is happening fast, but can we see you? We all have a lot of questions to ask you about what happened and why you two left the team."_

Cree sighed. She knew what he really wanted to say was to make sure he and Agura wouldn't end up like them. "I understand completely. I think everyone should know what happened to us and why we… did certain things."

"_Good. Maybe we can get the Mobi and we can meet up with you guys."_

"I'll have to talk to Lance first, but I have a question for you."

"_What?"_

Cree breathed deeply before asking him. "How's the team?"

"_They're doing great. We even have two new team members."_

_Two new members. _"That's wonderful. You sound like you're doing a great job as leader."

"_I try my best."_

"That's all I could hope for. Did you by chance happen to call Lance before me?"

"_Uh, no. You looked like you weren't as confrontational as he did in the picture. I'm sorry if that offends you or anything."_

Relief swelled within her. "Actually, you did the right thing by calling me first. By the way, you found the picture in your room right?"

"_Yeah."_

"Is your room closer to the Rec room or near the kitchen?"

"_The Rec room. Is that Lance's old room?"_

"Oh yes it is. I'll call you back in a couple of hours. There some errands I need to run first and then you can meet us."

"_Okay. Thanks Cree."_

"No prob."

Cree flipped the lid down then up again. She hit a speed dial number and waited for Lance to pick up his phone.

"_It's only 9:45 in the morning. What do you want?" _Lance's groggy voice filtered through the earpiece.

"Boy, are you in trouble."

"_Huh?"_

"Get your butt outta bed and get over to my place. We have a major problem."

"_You're pregnant?" _

"NO! How could I possibly be pregnant? Just get over here!"

_That guy… _ Shaking her head, she flipped the lid down, ending the call. Cree opened the phone again and began to dial in a series of numbers. She studied the long string of digits before pressing the send button.

"Hey, remember me?"

"_Yes. Did something happen?"_

"They found out."

"_What? How?"_

"Blame the old Crimson One. Do you think you can come over her and discuss this problem with us?"

The person sighed heavily. _"I'll be there."_

"Thanks and I'm sorry about this."

"_I knew he was trouble." _

The line went silent.

Cree flipped her phone down and shoved it in her pocket. Now she had to explain this all to Lance and him. She got the feeling that things weren't going to go over well from the former.

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><p>And they didn't. When he arrived and Cree spilled about what happened, Lance's face changed from nervousness to rage. He stomped around her kitchen staring angrily at her.<p>

"I CANNOT believe you," He spat.

Cree leaned against the stove and shrugged. She had once been scared when he got into this kind of mood, but she had learned that he only relied on his size and voice to intimidate and Cree was becoming immune to it.

"They have to know." She said simply.

Lance was slowly stepping closer to her. "I thought all that running around trying to erase everything of our and that thing's existence was so that they would never, ever find out."

"What if they repeat history?"

"What did I just get done telling you? We made sure it wouldn't happen."

"There's still that chance."

Lance growled as he approached her. It made him even angrier when she looked so nonchalant about things. Cree saw his eyes widen as if realization had dawned on him. His eyes instantly narrowed again with a nasty snarl contorting his features.

Lance's hands wove past Cree and hit the stove. His face was inches away from hers. "This is because you want to make up for putting them through what we absolutely had to do. You don't care about our orders as long as it will make you feel better."

Cree's eyes instantly turned to green fire. Usually it took a lot for her to get enraged, but that was uncalled for. "You arrogant snot! Don't you dare try to pin me with all the blame. They found the picture in your room and they were the ones that called me. I just answered. "

"How do I know that you didn't put the picture in there in the first place?"

"I wouldn't do something like that!"

Lance's forehead was nearly touching hers. "You weren't exactly in the same frame of mind when we were leaving."

"Lance, I didn't do it! I still have my copy of the picture in my closet! I never printed another one."

"Fine, but you could have not answered the phone or faked something, but no, you got all sappy after seeing that freaking bike yesterday because it looked like Zoom's stupid Chopper!"

Cree pushed him away. "Don't you have any remorse for what happened to them? To what we did to those guys? They were our friends, Lance! And what we did to them is the things that only happen in horrible nightmares. They were absolutely terrified. And all we did was walk away when they were yelling for us to help them. Their screams—"

She stopped short and looked away from Lance's eyes. He watched her as she studied the floor, her breathing starting to become ragged. Lance's rage died down and he drew her into a hug. He had felt horrible for that event too, but his mind was locked onto Cree's crying when they abandoned the team. No matter how many times he told her everything was going to be fine and kissed her, the tears wouldn't stop. That was the first time he had ever seen someone so strong with her heart broken in pieces right in front of him. To him it was worse than what happened to the team, because unlike them that had no memory, the image of an inconsolable Cree was burned into his memory forever.

He squeezed her gently. "I'm sorry."

She looked up at him through misty green eyes. "I'm sorry too."

"_You know, I'm not standing out here for my health." _A deep voice sounded from her cargo pants' pocket. The two jumped.

"Why are your pants talking?" Lance asked.

Cree giggled as she dug her cellphone out and flipped it open. "Uh, hello?"

"_Where are you at? I don't have all day."_

"Sorry! We were just discussing something. We're coming out there."

"Impatient as always," Lance said.

Cree led him out the door and behind the house. The trees grew denser in the back of the property with several small clearings that were excellent at masking any _outside_ visitors.

Lance looked up at the distant leafy foliage. "I'm sorry for blaming you for the picture."

"It's okay Lance."

He sighed, "I'm sure _he _won't forgive me for screwing everything up."

"Humans make mistakes and he knows that. I think you'll be fine," Cree said.

"If you say so… Hey, how about when we're not expecting anybody to be running around your backyard, you and I could... _sort out_ our differences on this picture issue. That is, if those stupid squirrels don't pelt nuts at us again."

Cree laughed, "I told you throwing the walnuts back at them would get them mad. And until that day I always thought that only old men could get into arguments with squirrels."

Lance looked at her, exasperated. "They're little conspirators. I know it."

"Humans sure take their dear sweet time. You two lovebirds aren't the only ones in the Multiverse that I have to attend to, so make it quick." A deep voice announced ahead of them.

Cree and Lance both whirled around to see the Eternal Equalizer resting against a tree.

Cree smiled at him. "Hello Rawkus."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yes, Cree knows how to reach Rawkus. This chapter signals that this story is reaching the halfway point! And sorry again to the Vegura fans. Hopefully there are some scenes with the much-loved couple in the next chapter . Thanks for reading and reviewing!**


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